Biography

Darren Shan's real name is Darren O’Shaughnessy. Although he is Irish, he was born on July 2, 1972, in St. Thomas’ Hospital, London — directly across the river from the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, which may explain his fascination with evil bloodsuckers! He lived in South East London, near the Elephant & Castle. He started school at the early age of three (he was such a wild child, no pre-school facility would have him!), in English Martyrs. At the age of six, he moved to Limerick in Ireland, with his parents and younger brother, and has lived there ever since.

Darren went to primary school in Askeaton, where his mother was a teacher, then to secondary school in Copsewood College in Pallaskenry. Later, he went back to London to study Sociology and English at Roehampton University. He then worked for a cable television company in Limerick for a couple of years, before setting up as a full-time writer at the age of 23.

Although Darren always wanted to be a writer, it was only in his teenage years that he began writing in his spare time for fun (before that, he only wrote stories if they were for homework). He bought his first typewriter when he was 14, and never looked back, knocking out loads of short stories and comic scripts, and making false starts on several books, which he never completed. He enjoyed his first taste of literary success at age 15, as a runner-up in a television script-writing competition for RTE in Ireland, with a dark comedy script titled "A Day in the Morgue" (he was morbid even then!).

Darren was 17 when he finished his first novel. Although it was never published, he relished the writing experience, and found himself focusing more on novels in the coming years, leaving behind the short-story format. For the next several years, sandwiched between university and work, he wrote an average of one book a year, experimenting with different ideas, genres, lengths and styles. When he started writing full-time, his output shot up to 5 to 6 books per year! But that has dropped back to 2 to 3 recently, due to all the travelling around he’s been doing to promote sales of his books.

All of these early books were adult-oriented. Although Darren quite liked the idea of writing a children’s book one day, he considered himself an adult writer first and foremost. In fact his initial breakthrough was with an adult book, in February 1999, called "Ayuamarca" (later republished as "Procession of the Dead"), the first of a trilogy of books known as "The City". That was followed by "Hell's Horizon" in February 2000. Then, several years later, when the first two were re-edited and re-released, he published the third book, "City of the Snakes".

In January 2000 Darren's first children’s book, "Cirque du Freak", which he’d written as a fun side-project, was published. The first book in a series titled "The Saga of Darren Shan" (or "Cirque du Freak" as it’s known in America), it attracted rave reviews and an ever-growing army of fans hungry to learn more about vampires which were quite unlike any that anyone had ever seen before!

Darren loved writing for children so much that for the next several years he focused almost exclusively on his books for younger readers. First, he wrote a total of twelve books about vampires. He quickly followed up his vampiric saga with "The Demonata," a series about demons. Running to ten books in total, "The Demonata" cemented Darren Shan’s place as the Master Of Children’s Horror, and saw him score his first UK #1 bestsellers. He also wrote a one-off short book, called "Koyasan", for World Book Day in the UK in 2006.

There was a very successful manga adaptation of Darren’s vampire series, drawn by the Japanese artist, Takahiro Arai. It was originally serialized in Japan, but collected volumes are now on sale in the USA, UK and other countries.

Darren followed up "The Demonata" with a one-off fantasy book called "The Thin Executioner", which he has cited as his favourite book that he has so far written. After that he wrote a four book series called "The Saga of Larten Crepsley," telling the background story of Mr Crepsley, covering the two hundred years of his life before we first saw him in "Cirque Du Freak."

Next up for teenagers, Darren wrote a twelve book series called "Zom-B," about a zombie apocalypse, but also the rise of the alt-right and the dangers of not taking a stand against racism and bigotry.

Darren released one more book for adults under the name of Darren Shan -- a one-off thriller with supernatural tones called "Lady of the Shades" -- before creating a different name for his more mature work. (He now releases books for adults under the name of Darren Dash.)

By the start of 2018, Shan’s books were on sale in every continent, in 39 countries, in 31 languages, and have been children’s bestsellers in America, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and other countries. The books have topped adult bestseller charts in Hungary, Japan and Taiwan. In total, Shan’s books have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide!

The movie rights to Cirque Du Freak were bought by Universal, and a movie (which combines elements from the first three books in the series) was released on October 23rd, 2009, starring newcomer Chris Massoglia as Darren Shan, along with a wide array of established stars such as Josh Hutcherson, John C Reilly, Salma Hayek, Willem Defoe and Ken Watanabe. The movie was called "Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant". It did not do well at the box office and there are no current plans to release any sequels.

A big film buff, with a collection of nearly five thousand movies on DVD, Darren also reads lots of comics and books, and likes to study and collect original artwork, especially comic art, modern art, and sculptures. Other interests include long walks, watching football (he’s a Tottenham Hotspur and Ireland fan), listening to pop and rock music, theatre, worldwide travel, sampling the delights of both gourmet cuisine and finger-licking junk food, and dreaming up new ways to terrify his readers!

Darren spends most of his time in Limerick, Ireland, with his wife and son, but he also has an apartment in London, to which he escapes for a burst of high-speed living every so often, when he feels the need to get his creative juices flowing. Darren only rarely writes when in London or on the road, preferring to tie himself to his computer when at home in Limerick, where he can work away solidly without any distractions in the peace and quiet of the Irish countryside.

Check out the Frequently Asked Questions and Interviews sections for more facts about Darren and his books -- you can find links to the top left of this biography.

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